Michigan Home Health Agency Owner Convicted in 1.6 Million Dollar Medicare Fraud Scheme

A federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan convicted a Michigan nurse and home health care agency owner on May 14 2026 of operating a $1.6 million scheme to defraud Medicare.

The Department of Justice announcement identifies the defendant as the owner of a home health care agency who submitted false claims and paid kickbacks to secure patient referrals. The fraud involved billing Medicare for services that were either not rendered or not medically necessary. The total loss to the program reached $1.6 million.

Medicare Part B covers home health services for roughly 8 million beneficiaries each year. The conviction directly affects the flow of those funds by requiring the agency to cease operations and by initiating recovery of the $1.6 million in improper payments.

Sentencing has not yet been scheduled but federal guidelines mandate prison time and full restitution for health care fraud convictions of this scale.

The verdict shifts the case from prosecution to enforcement phase. The U.S. Attorney’s Office must now calculate exact restitution amounts file forfeiture complaints against any linked real estate vehicles or bank accounts and notify the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to impose payment bans on any related providers.

Federal probation will supervise collection for at least three years post-sentencing. The outcome also obligates the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to determine whether parallel civil False Claims Act penalties will be pursued on top of the criminal judgment.

This marks the latest conviction in the Eastern District of Michigan’s ongoing effort against health care fraud. The district has secured multiple seven-figure Medicare kickback cases since 2022 under the DOJ’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force initiative.

The original charges in this matter were brought under 18 U.S.C. § 1347 for health care fraud and 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b for the anti-kickback statute violations per the Department of Justice release issued May 15 2026.